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A Long Day’s Journey Into Night* (with Congestive Heart Failure)
Iphone portrait with Dad on our flight to Seattle After three heart attacks, three open heart surgeries and three strokes, my brothers and I often wondered, what would finally “get” Dad? Over the last...
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I’m not done
Celebrating a friend’s 50-year milestone birthday My father had several pet peeves when it came to American usage. When asked, “Were you in the military?” he would answer, “No.” He was a Marine, which...
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Identity Crisis! (Again!) Part One
My Dad and our friend, Peggy Woods, at our Tacoma “house cooling” party, 2002 My Dad always said that he felt like he had several lives: his formative years up to joining the 5th Reserve Officer’s...
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The Journey of a Caregiver Begins (Part Two)
My awesome retirement party (planned by Samantha Smith) included Polaroid party pics signed by colleagues and my boss (To start at the beginning of this little series, click here.) Today, I stumbled...
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Naked Shredding and Other Awkward Retired Moments (Part Three)
The project plan and portfolio of materials for Friends of Hospice (design by Pat Davis of Pat Davis Design)(To start at the beginning of this little series, click here.) What came next was… a whole...
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With Dad Gone, A Void (Part Four)
Napping…To start at the beginning of this little series, click here.) Now that I am home, really home, after Dad’s death, I am coming to terms with my identity all over again. Carol Mithers wrote a...
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Searching for Answers About Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)
When you’re caring for someone with a deteriorating health condition, you can often feel alone. It’s up to you to stay on top of symptoms, reach out to doctors, and try to make sense of information...
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Re-forming as Family
As my Dad grew more frail, his world shrank. Eventually it consisted of what fell within the four walls of my home, augmented by the daily newspaper and the Military History Channel. My world shrank,...
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Our Common Cause as Adult Children
You won’t find this blog post until you’re ready to think about what we have in common: the sometimes-painful, sometimes-rewarding responsibility for caring for a parent during their “golden years.”...
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Cracking Open
Bereavement can be strange. It’s been more than four months since Dad died. Immediately after his death, I was bone tired, contemplative, somber without being sad. Having a day stretch ahead of me...
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10,000+ Views: Thanks for Stopping By
Blogging is kind of magical to me. Not the writing part (though the way I write sometimes feels that spontaneous). The community part. The Henry Chronicles was my little cry in the wilderness. It felt...
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Caregiver Love Stories
Rick and Marianne Rayburn (photo: Capital Public Radio) I just finished listening to the premiere of Capital Public Radio’s multi-media documentary series looking at the lives of family caregivers,...
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The Guilts
Two weeks ago, a younger friend of mine called to ask my advice about achieving work-life balance. She has a three-year-old, is in the middle of a challenging pregnancy and is less than a year into a...
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